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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27032131">Stranger Things: Requests and Inserts</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stattic_Scribbles/pseuds/Stattic_Scribbles'>Stattic_Scribbles</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stranger Things (TV 2016)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 17:41:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,882</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27032131</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stattic_Scribbles/pseuds/Stattic_Scribbles</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of Reader Inserts and Requests posted from my Tumblr based on Stranger Things; Requests always open, please request on my tumblr, after reading the rules which can be found here:<br/>https://stattic-writes.tumblr.com/post/184300196529/guidelines</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington, Eleven/Reader, Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Candy: General</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Summary: The gang (incl. Max) taking El to trick or treat, and El figures out her favourite candy/chocolate bar.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Halloween was in the air, it was in the leaves changing, something El would constantly stare at in wonder. With the air grown far crisper and both El and Will going through a growth spurt it only made sense for them to get new clothes together. They were friends, how the entire gang of their other friends managed to tag along for the shopping trip, and had unanimously decided they wanted to go trick or treating and do every single halloween-y thing that seemed to exist with how fast they were talking and laughing together. Joyce is already bracing for an empty house if Will decides to spend it with Dustin and everyone else. She had eavesdropped only a tiny bit, only when Max had shrieked and grabbed Dustin’s collar, shaking him about how the neighborhood next to him gave out massive candy bars and they all had to go, to get as many as possible.</p><p> </p><p>Will had invited everyone over to his house, Joyce debates organizing halloween activities but then Will and Max come to her both separately, commenting how El has never actually done anything like this before. It’s not until Hopper comes and asks if she’d be willing to include El in their annual family halloween set up and she’d happily agreed.</p><p> </p><p>She’d asked El about halloween costumes over breakfast the next day and she’d just shrugs and then pulled the wig that they’d used for her disguise. Joyce and Hopper both look unimpressed and Max refuses to leave until El has agreed to go to get a new halloween costume although she assures she has no preference for the actual costume.</p><p>“What are you most looking forward to?” Joyce asks while they’re carving pumpkins, Will tilts his head slightly, confused by his mother’s question, it’s not till he remembers El hasn’t had a halloween with them that he understands.</p><p> </p><p>They were talking about trick-or-treating, Will had been asking everyone else what they were dressing up as, their favourite candy bar so they could all trade their favourites to each other, since so far none of them had overlaps.</p><p>”Eating it.” El responds and Joyce laughs.</p><p>“No we mean what’s your favourite candy.” Mike nods and El frowns a little, shaking her head.</p><p>“I don’t know, I haven’t had any to have a favourite.”</p><p> </p><p>They’re running around the street, trying to rush up to the next yard. El is laughing a little, following their lead and actually seeming to be enjoying herself with her friends. Nancy and Jonathan had agreed to act as the official chaperones, which means Joyce and Hopper don’t really need to be there, but it does help as everyone seems to be trying to run in different directions.</p><p>Nancy and Jonathan had claimed their payment already, two bags of their favourite candy bars at home to be given at the end of the night. Both of them had gotten pulled into the great candy debate, giving their answers fairly fast, while all the other kids seemed to hesitate and swap answers once more.</p><p> </p><p>Joyce laughs when Hopper looks horrified, El having smeared chocolate on part of her face and it’s on the edge of one of her sleeves. She looks up and grins at him, and he just sighs, smiling and pointing to his own face and miming smudging his own face, she laughs covering her mouth but he still grins, spotting the peanut butter cup he’d given her half falling out of her mouth.</p><p> </p><p>Dustin is laughing, he’s wearing some sort of tinfoil monstrosity, assuring everyone he’s an astronaut. Will looks unimpressed having decided to wear a wizard hat as his entire costume. Lucas is grinning but no one can really tell as he’s wearing a zombie mask. Max has a ninja costume on so the bottom half of her face is obscured. </p><p>El is grinning as well, holding up the bar Nancy had first shown. Jonathan cheers, hoisting El and the candy bar up chanting something that everyone’s laughter drowns out anyways.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Ghost Story: Max/Reader</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Max/Reader, Max goes trick or treating with reader who’s dressed as a ninja; Max telling the group a horror story, and El making things move</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You were finally allowed to go trick or treating on your own. You’d dressed as a ninja, the only costume you’d been able to gather on your own. Neither of your parents had been home for you to ask for help.</p><p>You managed to gather as much black clothing as possible, your parents simply asking if it was for halloween and you had replied it was and they’d left you to go about your business and it had only taken you the evening to put everything together.</p><p> </p><p>Max grimaces, fingers drumming on her skateboard as she watches everyone else already trick or treating, already having fun; without her. She’s not sure if it’s even worth trying to catch up with them and she decides it’s just better to watch them leave. None of them look back, none of them notice her missing. She snarls under her mask, kicking rocks and then throwing her board down to make her getaway faster. She doesn’t look back as she tells herself halloween is dumb and she’d rather just spend time at the arcade. She’s passing by neighborhoods, careful not to look down the streets.</p><p>She pauses at the arcade, debating going in, there’s barely anyone around, everyone in town trick or treating, she tries to convince herself that beating another high score record is so much better than whatever free candy everyone else is getting.</p><p> </p><p>She tries to push away the thought of everyone having fun, forming memories without her. She doesn’t need them, they may be her friends but she doesn’t always have to spend time with them, she tries to justify to herself as she finds herself  wandering back towards the streets, avoiding the ones where she knows everyone else in the gang would be, the main street that they had all planned to get candy from.</p><p> </p><p>You’re too focused on making sure your mask doesn’t slip down again, it was an annoying issue that you’d started to have as the night wore on. You credit fixing your mask to the fact you walk straight into Max. She laughs the entire time she’s helping you pick up candy and assures you it’s okay, that none of it is hers.</p><p>“Seriously Max? Some of this has to be, I’ll even take the gross ones you hate if you’d rather…” You mumble.</p><p>“Seriously Y/N, it’s not mine; I’m not doing this.” She gestures to your costume and you pout a little.</p><p>“Wait, you aren’t trick or treating?”</p><p>“No, my friends, well one of them has never been trick-or-treating so she got really excited by it and they left…” Max doesn’t finish but you frown in sympathy at her.</p><p>“I’m sorry about that, we can go together?”</p><p> </p><p>“Together?” She frowns at her lack of costume and no bag, you grin holding up an extra pillowcase, that was supposed to be for your spares but you can’t think of a better use for it than helping Max out.</p><p> </p><p>Max knows that El had been practicing, once she had learned of the usual halloween traditions; El had gone to Max, asking about an idea for telling the scary stories. Max had agreed whole heartily and had almost spilled the secret just because of how excited she was for it.</p><p>You hadn’t been let in on it with the rest of the group and Max was looking forward to scaring you as an introduction to the rest of the group, after the both of you had formed a fast friendship over having gone trick-or-treating earlier during the evening.</p><p> </p><p>“The woman screams! And then from behind the-” Max doesn’t finish El having lifted one of the sheet’s she’d set up, it hovers half in front of the lamp obscuring things and throwing a strange colour wash over everything else. The TV and a few of the locks snap and crackle to life and everyone screams.</p><p>El’s laughing, and Max is too, but then you catch the look of horror on her face, a hook scraping against the window. </p><p> </p><p>“That’s you right?” Max asks and El shakes her head, both of them turning to the window, Max spotting it first, a thin line of fishing wire, which leads back to your candy bag. You laugh at both of them and everyone glares a little laughing at you.</p><p>You’re relieved that Max has her friends back and now you have some new ones.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Fight: General</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Stranger things; Max gets separated when the demogorgon attacks the city, she survives</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It wasn’t hard to get lost, with everything having been thrown into chaos, everything having gone to shit Max knows it’s not likely they’ll be able to stay together. So when she sees the demogorgon, all she can think about is keeping her friends safe, keeping them alive, she doesn’t hesitate, slamming her board into the ground and taking off once she can hear it changing directions. She knows its following her and she knows this is very very bad but she doesn’t care as long as everyone else is safe. She knows she shouldn’t be playing the hero, that El is probably one of the only one of them that can actually do anything but she doesn’t care. She knows El has done more than enough to protect everyone and that someone needs to protect her for a little bit.</p><p>As Max skirts around something she thinks may have been a bench, she can hear at least something too fast to be one of her friends. She doesn’t look back, it’ll just end up slowing her down.</p><p> </p><p>It’s why she doesn’t see her skateboard wheel getting kicked from under, it’s why when she skids from her board and hits the ground she doesn’t look back. She just stands and runs, brushing the thought of her now skinned knee away as she runs on it. She’s thankful she hasn’t twisted her ankle or ended up worse.</p><p>She’s not sure if she’s outrunning it but then she feels something brushing her leg and she stumbles, finally glancing back to see a branch of some sort having tripped her. She turns back, struggling to sand and that’s when the demogorgon surges forward, having moved in front of her. She stumbles backwards managing to catch an open building that she darts into.</p><p> </p><p>She’s shoving things in front of the door, and then running farther into the building, there’s a new cut on her arm from when the demogorgon had lashed out and struck. She tries not to look at it, but as she wedged herself into a corner, trying to avoid making any noise, trying to avoid breathing, she catches El and Dustin from the side of her eye. They’re bleeding, screaming before the demogorgon impales them and Max bites her hand to stop from screaming, she can see them turning to ash, she knows it’s not real and she tries to repeat this to herself as she sees Will and Mike meeting the same fate.</p><p> </p><p>She closes her eyes but just keeps seeing them all screaming over and over, she just keeps seeing them bleeding and whimpering, trying to find her. She knows it’s just a trick, something brought from the upside down to lure her out, to lure her to her own demise, she refuses curling around herself tighter and pulling her skateboard over avoiding the wheels spinning and making noise. She stays like this, waiting for something or someone to find her, she at least hopes El will be able to stop it.</p><p> </p><p>“Max?” She can hear someone calling but she thinks it might just be another trick, until she see’s El, and Dustin, and Mike, Will, and even Nancy, peering nervously at her. She’d wedged herself into a corner, covering her legs drawn up to her chest with the skateboard and is aiming to swing the bat at all of them, she lowers it, hissing as she uncurls, her leg throbbing and bleeding from one of the cuts she’d gotten.</p><p>They wrap her in a hug in seconds. She’s a little tense and uncomfortable but as they hug lingers she relaxes, and everyone makes their way back to get checked out for any injuries.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Mind: Eleven/Reader</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Eleven/Reader, El trying to connect herself with reader through her mind, reader had moved out of Hawkins and doesn’t expect El to recognise her.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The mall was toast. Your parents didn’t know the full story and that’s the way you’d wanted to keep it. They didn’t need to know. This meant you moved, you’d known El was your soulmate, you’d connected long before the upside down and the demogorgon had become a threat. Of course you hadn’t known right away, it had taken a few times of the both of you mentally calling out to each other.</p><p>That was five years ago. You weren’t sure what to expect coming back to Hawkins. You were dreading it, the nightmares you still had ramping up the closer you’d gotten to moving back.</p><p>When you drive through you swear you can feel your mind shift, you swear you can feel El reaching out but you know it’s just your imagination. She wouldn’t want you back, just like you don’t want to be back here, with the friend group fractured and the threats potentially not gone. You try to wipe the nightmares from your mind, assuring yourself everyone is still friends, the door has closed, El still wants you.</p><p> </p><p>“Y/N.” Your mother taps her finger on the glass and you huff at the thought of being an experiment again. You swear you hear El’s laugh in your mind as you struggle from the back of the car and follow your new adoptive parents into the house they’ve just bought.</p><p>“We have neighbors! Can you two-Y/N?”</p><p>“Joyce?” You blink at her and she nods a little before she laughs and you grin back as Jonathan and Will come from inside the house.</p><p>“EL!” Will shouts back and you jerk your head watching your adoptive parents.</p><p> </p><p>“Y/N, you didn’t tell us you had friends here! This is so good, go play with them.” They wave you off and you don’t stop to question the voice in your mind that’s not yours. -Play, how old do they think you are?- You don’t answer instead walking over to be pulled into a hug by Will.</p><p>“I thought you guys moved out.”</p><p>“We just can’t seem to stay away, neither can you.”</p><p>“Something about this place man.” You shrug a little and Will wiggles his eyebrows suggestively.</p><p>“Or someone.”</p><p>“Hey, El was with y’all which as far as I’m concerned isn’t here since you moved too.”</p><p> </p><p>“Pity we went opposite ways and then just made u-turns.”</p><p>“Yeah pity.” You laugh but it’s cut off by someone tackling you to the ground.</p><p>“Hey El.”</p><p>“You never answered!” She huffs and you shrug.</p><p>“Why?” She demands and you grimace.</p><p>“Just felt like I shouldn’t, that I would just remind you of..” You trail off gesturing back towards Will and Joyce. -Family, you were scared you’d remind me of family. That’s who you are to me Y/N you’re my soulmate.-</p><p>“I know, just, thought it might be too painful.”</p><p> </p><p>“You could have just asked, I spent so long trying to connect to you, I thought I couldn’t after closing the gate, and I just found out it’s cause you didn’t pick up?” She narrows her eyes and you try not to laugh as you can see a smile creeping on her face.</p><p>“At least now that you’re back I don’t have to try as hard to talk to you.” You nod standing from where she’s tackled you and you pull her into a hug.</p><p>“It’s good to see you again.”</p><p>“I know. It really is. Like hell I’m letting you go anywhere without me ever again.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Friend: Max/Reader</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Max/Reader; Max gets rejected by the group and goes to the arcade where she meets you</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Max knows when she’s not wanted but she also knows that it still hurts the same every time and she tries not to think about it as she returns to the arcade to avoid everyone who is determined to ignore her. She tries not to think of them as her friends, just people she knew from school. It doesn’t help it sting less. She manages to find an open game and uncaring what it actually is just starts playing.</p><p>She repeats this everyday after school, skating off before anyone else can reject her again. She knows it’s probably rude, but the fact the entire group was pushing her away was enough for her to justify it.</p><p> </p><p>The arcade is almost always empty and Max doesn’t really give that a thought, that most people who are there aren’t alone, that most people actually have friends to hang out with. She pulls out a handful of coins trying to see if she has enough for a game. She spots some doing the same, they wave.</p><p>“Hey! What’re you planning on playing?”</p><p>“Don’t know yet..”</p><p> </p><p>“They got in a new game, I don’t have enough, and it’s two player, you wanna pool our funds together and see if we have enough?” You grin at her and she seems hesitant but nods and you push all your coins into her hands. If you hide the extra you had that would cover both of your games, well she doesn’t need to know you’ve been looking for an excuse to talk to her for weeks. You’d watch her come in every day, you wondered why she didn’t have friends to play with and you think maybe she’s just moved to town like you had but then you catch her glaring at some people that walk by and you think maybe her friends don’t want to be her friends anymore, you remember that happened when you’d told everyone you were moving last year. How none of them kept talking to you, already acting like you were gone before you’d even left. It’s why you haven’t tried to make any friends now, but as you watch her shuffling the coins you’d given her and see her smiling at you, you grin back, hopeful that maybe you’ll have a friend after this round.</p><p> </p><p>She’s laughing when you show up the next day, she waves you over and holds out her hand, you make a point to drop the coins in a slow over exaggerated manner and she grins tapping your hand like someone would a salt shaker that nothing is coming out of.</p><p>“Wow Max, really trying to scrape the barrel with this. So we on for the usual?” You grin pointing to the game the two of you usually play.</p><p>“Yeah I was thinking we could grab an ice cream after this?” She grins and your face lights up.</p><p>“Sounds killer!”</p><p> </p><p>You’re debating asking about ice cream choices but when she orders your favourite flavor and then grins as you order the same there’s no need to. You both decide to walk around for a bit instead of just sitting and enjoying the ice cream and you assume that it has something to do with the group that’s just come in, You don’t mind, you’d rather have Max all to yourself and you’re not sure why someone wouldn’t want to spend time with her, or why anyone would push her away. You want to ask but from how her eyes narrow and she sighs as you walk past them you think it’s something that’s still too fresh. You understand, you can’t think about your old friends too long otherwise you will cry.</p><p> </p><p>She pulls you along and asks if you can skateboard. When you shake your head no, when you assure her you’d like to learn but no one would teach a klutz like you, she looks annoyed on your behalf.</p><p>The next day she shows up to the arcade on her board and an older one in her hands.</p><p>“Change of plans, you’re going to learn to skate now!”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Presents: Steve/Billy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Steve/Billy, trying to give surprises to each other</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Steve Harrington makes two mistakes when he starts dating Billy. First he doesn’t say anything about how he feels the best way to show love is to buy things, and with his job and extra income, he can, he’s already committed to spoiling Billy, he just doesn’t say anything. The second is he doesn’t say anything about his aversion to receiving gifts.</p><p>-Steve wasn’t one for receiving gifts. He was awkward about it, from christmas to his birthday he’d never known how to respond. Of course he’s managed to figure out an easy way to avoid it, just get whoever gave him something, something that was better, or more embarrassing. Of course it doesn’t really work for his birthday, but he’s easily able to manage it on his anniversaries with Billy.</p><p> </p><p>Billy loves gifts, if there’s anything he loves more than it has to be giving other people gifts. He won’t admit he loves how Steve squirms whenever he presents him with gifts and when he realizes that now with both of them having jobs he can use the extra money to actually buy Steve things.</p><p>Steve’s a little confused to find the side of the bed Billy normally stays on empty. He wonders if something came up, but then he can hear movement from behind the door and reasons it’s Billy trying to sneak a cup of coffee or something before his shift.</p><p>He doesn’t really fall asleep but he does doze off waking up groggy when Billy wraps his arms around him.</p><p> </p><p>“Wake up, I got you something.” He wrongly assumes it’s food and when he sits up reaching out, partly for Billy’s warmth but also for what he thinks is coffee and maybe breakfast. Instead his arms hit a bag and he glances down, riffling through the tissue paper, to blush as he realizes that Billy has gotten him the sweater he had his eyes on when they’d gone on a date to the mall.</p><p>“This isn’t breakfast.” Is all he can really say but then he smirks and pulls a box from under the bed. Billy narrows his eyes but takes it opening the box and putting the watch Steve had bought him on his wrist.</p><p>“What’s wrong Harrington, can’t handle getting it dished out.”</p><p>“You gave me shit first, now I’m going to have to one up you.”</p><p>“There’s no way you can.” Billy laughs as Steve almost pouts before pulling him back to the bed.</p><p> </p><p>Steve’s not paying attention, it’s the middle of his shift and there’s never anyone in the twenty minutes after the lunch rush finishes. So when the bell dings he doesn’t put much focus on it, Robin taking over for him.</p><p>“So you just stand there and look pretty while Robin does all the work, you bum?” Billy laughs and Steve jerks, the arm he was resting his chin on going out from under him and he huffs and glares at Billy who leans against the counter.</p><p>“So Steve, what do you think the best flavour here is?”</p><p>“Well our special of the day is a scoop of Rocky road with a scoop of marshmallow fluff and hot fudge.” He pitches his voice, an exaggeration of a peppy customer service voice.</p><p>“Aw and here I thought you were the special of the day.” He winks and Steve rolls his eyes.</p><p>“You’re on break.” Robin nods and Billy smirks.</p><p>“Good we can go on our date.”</p><p> </p><p>“Date?” Steve tilts his head and Billy nods.</p><p>“Course, you think I came all the way here to have an ice cream cone?”</p><p>“Well we can split one.” Steve nods towards the counter before hoping over it and grinning as Billy wraps his arm around his waist.</p><p>“Don’t worry I’ll have him back by five.” He laughs winking at Robin who smirks back at them.</p><p> </p><p>“Well at least this doesn’t clash with my surprise.”</p><p>“Your surprise?” Billy turns eyeing Steve.</p><p>“Well yeah, since you didn’t come all the way here for an ice cream I’ll have to make sure you have dessert once we go for dinner.”</p><p>“We haven’t even had lunch yet…”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Shadow: Steve/Billy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>This was written based on my friend talking to me about the mind flayer, before I had even gotten into stranger things</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He’s tried his best to ignore it, the hissing; the way he can feel his own heartbeat being twisted into screams; how nothing smells the same; there’s some sort of sweet rotting scent, like vomit or drying meat. It takes him far too long to realise its himself; he watches the veins, the tendrils sliding against his skin, he runs his fingers over them, feeling ridges and coils he knows he shouldn’t. He cant help but shiver, picturing unblemished skin, picture harring-<em><strike>don’t think don’t think don’t think</strike></em>, he screams in tandem with the veins, with the creature that sinks below his skin as he sunk below the world, <em><strike>do not give him away, keep him safe keep him safe, don’t think don’t think</strike></em>, he knows its dissecting him, pulling him apart in pieces, internally; he imagines someone cutting him open once it kills him; his brain scrambled beyond function, his organs cut into chunks, into ribbons and shredded beyond the worst murders any of them have seen.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He can feel movement, not under his skin as he expects but himself moving; he knows he hasn’t been outside in <em><strike>hours weeks days</strike></em>, too long; he cant feel the sun, cant feel the cold wither; he’s not sure what he needs to wear; he’s unconcerned, he needs- <em><strike>dont think dont think dont think</strike></em>; it breaks, the way he grits his teeth scowling at himself at how the veins choke against him; with how they recede, how he can feel warmth suddenly rushing through him like water; he knows it knows too; he’d tried, he reminds himself, took the better part of however long it had been; he likes to think days; he knows he probably doesn’t have that.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He’s moving too fast, begging himself to slow down, to act human to appear what everyone sees him as. Nothing changes except he can no longer feel once more; he knows he should be tired dimly recognising the area he’s in, how far he’s traveled; how far it forced him to go, he staggers forward unsure of the ringing in his ears, the way the ground twists, his face hitting the grass; he wonders if the ground will swallow him once more. Instead light floods his vision, he can see feet moving towards him; he struggles finding himself bound to the earth; he can feel the veins pulsing the excitement they both feel is making him sick.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><b>Jesus</b> He doesn’t hear the figure speak just knows the way the face moves and the concern melts; he can feel the figure picking him up; he feels like he should weight ten tons but the veins are so busy thrumming in his ears he’s barely aware the figure is talking let alone the other people who seem to have appeared, he wants to shut his eyes; the lights are undulating against the shapes and items he no longer can name. He can feel everything spinning around him as a central point; he cant even move to turn to vomit; he cant hear anything suddenly; everything fully being silenced. he doesn’t struggle, doesn’t move frozen; numb; waiting for what happens after the silence; waiting for the screaming; the sound of bone snapping and fragmenting; the feeling of blood dripping from inside him to pool against his skin and muscles unbroken.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Nothing comes; he tentatively closes his eyes relieved when he can. He sleeps on his own for the first time. He doesn’t wake up, just as he doesn’t fall asleep. He’s only aware of the not being when his vision seems to return to him, when the blurry expanse of gray and blue pull back, the flashes of light and prickle of fire recede from his body. He cannot turn his head. He cannot move his body. He cannot feel what is not his; for the veins, the smoke that bleeds from under his skin has soaked against his body, he can feel it feather light in its movements as it coils around his organs, snakes between his bones and pulls the marrow from them. He knows he shouldn’t fight anymore; not now, not yet; he lets the smoke, the cool leeching from inside him settle centered in his chest.</p>
<p>He wonders if the smoke is what’s keeping his heart beating, surprised when he can feel the hold it keeps over him lessen. <em><strike>Fix it, fix it, fix it. </strike></em>Is all that come through when he tries to move, tries to think about what is suddenly flashing in front of his vision. <em><strike>Hand, fingers, arm.</strike></em> He sighs, letting the air return to his lungs by himself. He cringes knowing the creature has given him control back to posess someone. He reaches half blind towards the heartbeat the creature allows him to hear. <em><strike>Take, take, take. </strike></em>He’s confused when he can feel panic rise, the smoke bubbling into his throat cutting his breathing off. <em><strike>Wrong, wrong wrong. </strike></em>He leans his head against the wall keeping his eyes closed trying to avoid the feeling of everything twisting from under him. He opens them slowly surprised to see something sitting across from him. He doesn’t scream, his eyes clouded, he wonders why he can’t see.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Billy, what happened.” <em><strike>Oh no.no, no no, wrong wrong wrong, not him not him, not him. </strike></em>He wants to vomit, he can feel his mouth cracking, his teeth grinding as he pries them open, fighting his own nerve impulses and synapses to manage to unlock his jaw. His vision goes black but the sound stays, he can hear it, the same creature that came to him in the other place, the broken screaming thing that stuttered and vomited sound, that was drowning in static and too much of everything, warping his vision the same as it is now. The sound is what he remembers, he can feel his arms, his hands trying to move towards his own mouth, to shut him down, to bring him to control once again. He can hear the scream clearer, its more of a whine, a pitiful noise the kind animals make when they’re wounded, not a creature from the other place he reasons, something from this place, something from here. He can feel a finger hooking into his mouth, his own trying to force his jaw closed or maybe to make him puke the creature so it can find a new host, so it can find something better.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Instead he doesn’t scream , he cannot when half is hand is being crushed by his teeth. He doesn’t feel pain, he can’t feel anything just as he can’t see and then he can’t hear. He knows the creature is angry, he can feel the way it ripples against him, like water damp and heavy. It vanishes all at once, and suddenly he’s lying on a bed, <em><strike>in a house, in a room  in Steve’s room, with Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve</strike></em> bleeding from his hand, half of which is now on the bed sitting next to him. He looks up, Steve’s face twisted in horror, his hand reaching hesitantly out. <em><strike>Fear, fear fear, he’s afraid he’s afraid of you, you’re bad, you’re bad. </strike></em>He can hear it echoing before everything is taken away again. He understands his last view of <em><strike>Steve </strike></em>the figure was meant to be agonizing for him to think of.</p>
<p>He’s not sure if he’s sitting or laying once more, he can faintly feel a hand somewhere against him and he reasons someone must had at least restrained him. <em><strike>Those wont stop us, we need, we need. </strike></em>He screams into his head, howling and trying his best to drown it out. He’s given sound and partial sight back, he’s still sitting, the figure <em><strike>Steve</strike></em> is next to him, he flexes his fingers twining them with Steve the figure’s. He watches the figure relax, can see his mouth moving but not the sound that comes out. He watches, tracking his eyes and skipping a breath when he sees his hand, uninjured next to him; the part he’d bitten off, the fingers he’d crushed under his teeth sit next to it, blood staining the sheet and the flesh itself a dull gray and sheened black.<br/>“What’s going on,Billy, what happened?” He swallows confused how clear Steve is.<br/>“It; it wants-“<br/>“Want’s what?” Steve’s fingers tighten, the other hand brushing up his arm. <em><strike>Wants you, wants you wants you, want you, want you, want you.</strike></em><br/>“Don’t know, just know I’m supposed to bring it what it wants.”<br/>“You can’t remember anything from-“ His voice cuts off, as if he’s underwater and he waits patiently for <em><strike>Steve</strike></em> the figure’s voice to return.<br/>“Billy?” He relishes in how comforting his name is. He blinks at Steve, not nodding, not moving, the burning in his chest reminding him he’s not breathing either. He waits, curious which will give in first.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“It wants you.” He breathes out before it can choke him back down. Steve freezes nodding slowly.<br/>“Why?”<br/>“Because I want you.” Steve’s eyebrows knit together but he nods.<br/>“And you’re the creature right so-?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“No! I want you! You’re mine!” <em><strike>No right to him, no right to him, mine mine mine. </strike></em>He screeches, snarling in the space between them before he tugs Steve even closer, pulling him on top of himself effortlessly, he can dimly hear the hand, his hand, thunking to the floor and he pays no mind as he curls around Steve. He doesn’t struggle, laying there limp, shaking only slightly. He can feel his hand running through Steve’s hair, humming softly. <em><strike>Mine mine mine mine.</strike></em><br/>“It wants what I have what everyone here does, it wants. It hurts with it, like I do, why we match so well.” He mumbles hand petting Steve’s hair.<br/>“I thought it wanted to take the world?”<br/>“Yes.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Am I like a gateway or somethin’? If anything El would-“<br/>“Mine.” Billy hisses between his teeth and Steve looks up.<br/>“Oh.” Billy hums please when Steve nods slowly, he presses their forehead together and they sit content in silence for a moment, Billy trying his best not to choke on the veins that burrow into him like barbs.</p>
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<a name="section0008"><h2>10. Valentines</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Lucas Sinclair/Max Mayfield,Valentine’s Dance</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“It’s just a stupid Valentine’s day dance. I don’t see why you care so much.” Lucas looks unimpressed at Will and Mike who nod enthusiastically.</p><p>“We’re going to try to figure out who Max likes! She admitted it to El and we-” </p><p>“You guys shouldn’t pry like that, one of you is gonna get hurt, assuming you want it to be you.”</p><p>“Ugh Max is gross, like thinking of her like that is gross.” Will amends when Lucas glares at him.</p><p> </p><p>Max doesn’t look up from her lunch until El jabs her with a pencil.</p><p>“Hm?” She turns, one of the band students holding out a bunch of various coloured carnations.</p><p>“The rainbow ones are five bucks.” El hums, holding two from Will. Max nods to the flowers, three rainbow ones and five pink surrounding them.</p><p>“Flowers are stupid, they’re just going to wilt.” No one mentions how carefully she holds them throughout the day, or how much the smack she gives her brother rings out when he tries to crush one.</p><p> </p><p>”So thoughts about cookies?” El laughs from where Max sits behind three boxes of the band’s valentine’s day cookies.</p><p>“Shut it, they’re good.” El notes one box is already empty, and she can see Lucas grinning at Max but he drops it the minute he catches El staring, she grins back offering him out a cookie that Max had passed to her, she watches Max’s face pink only slightly and she grins wider, knowing just what bother her friends think of each other.</p><p>“Whoa that’s a lot, whoever got those must have a huge crush on you, anyone you want it to be?” Will leans forward wiggling his eyebrows and Max laughs at him, but Lucas can see the way her face drops when Will looks away.</p><p> </p><p>“I feel like this is leading up to some horrible reveal where it’s just a big prank.” She confesses to Lucas and he looks pained before sighing.</p><p>“I bought you the cookies and flowers… I like you…”</p><p>“Why couldn’t you just say something?”</p><p>“Because Mike and Will said you told El, and why would you pick me…”</p><p>“Why wouldn’t I?” She frowns a little and Lucas can see genuine confusion on her face as he takes his hand grin stretching wide all of a sudden, he knows she’s planning something and he’s dreading school tomorrow, it’s the day of the dance, they’re held on friday nights and he’s starting to panic as he realizes he still has to actually ask Max to go with him, they’re all going as a group but he’d wanted to take her as a date in addition to hanging out with they’re friends.</p><p> </p><p>“Lucas Sinclair!” Max bellows from the top of the stairs and he can see her board leaning on the rails.</p><p>“Oh no.”</p><p>“You wanna go to the Valentine’s day Dance with me?” She doesn’t wait for a response, jumping on her board and surfing down the rail, he reaches out when her arm flys out, helping her swing off the banister and looping around into an empty classroom, both of them laughing.</p><p>“So?”</p><p>“I’d love to, on one condition..”</p><p>“That is?”</p><p>“You have to teach me to skate so we can skate into it together.” He grins laughing when she cheers.</p><p> </p><p>The actual dance is uneventful, one of the chaperone’s catches them before they can skate in, but they’re still laughing, before everyone else arrives and then they’re all grouped together, but a slow song comes on and Lucas pulls Max slightly closer, nodding to the dance floor and she nods back, and then their arms are wrapped around each other and she’s smiling at him like he’s the only thing in the world and he thinks maybe this was worth all the fear before.</p>
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<a name="section0009"><h2>11. Supergirl: Max/Eleven</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>El/Max song-fic SUPERG!RL by Stefania, slight au where Max finds El first</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It’s raining and Max knows she should care but her family hates being here, and hates her, and she doesn’t care so she’ll just keep  running. She doesn’t expect to crash into anyone, or for her board to not smash into the ground but hover before dropping.</p><p>“How did you do that?” She doesn’t really care about her safety right now. The girl, Max thinks she is, tilts her head and the board floats back up pushing into her hands.</p><p>“You care about it.”</p><p>“But you don’t. You don’t know me.” Max isn’t sure why she’s digging herself a hole with this strange girl who can hover her skateboard.</p><p>“Do you need help?” She finally asks and the girl tilts her head when Max offers her hand out.</p><p>“I’m Max, who’re you?”</p><p> </p><p>Max doesn’t have powers, she knows she doesn’t know what it was like for El, what it’s like to feel like this, but she knows she wants to help.</p><p>El is quiet, she doesn’t talk much but the way things hover and float, Max thinks maybe she’s trying to communicate even if she doesn’t want to talk at all.</p><p>Max taps on the block that’s hovering, it nudges her arm slightly. She wonders if it’s meant to mean anything when another block joins the others, it doesn’t spell out anything, just the blocks floating around the empty space.</p><p>“El.” One of the blocks flies and hits the wall.</p><p>“You okay?” Max mumbles but El still doesn’t say anything, the block returning to float next to the other one.</p><p>“We can talk about it, or I can just sit here with you.” Max sits next to her careful not to actually touch her, the last time she’d done that burned into her mind, the darkness and heat that seemed to swallow her before El had pulled away, nose dripping blood that she’d wiped on the back of her hand.</p><p> </p><p>El’s grinning, the blocks hovering as well as a pen, she can now write without having to use her hands and she laughs grinning at Max who smiles back. Max wonders just exactly what the limit to her powers are she wants to see but if the way blood drips from her nose if she moves too suddenly makes Max hesitate. El seems to want to test the limits as well, the pen has paper alongside it, instead of scribbling on a piece taped to the wall.</p><p> </p><p>El can crush the blocks now, she can smash cans and plates against the wall when she gets mad. Max doesn’t see her mad much except when Billy is around, but he’d learned to stay away from both of them after he’d broken Max’s board and El had shattered his wrist while snarling at him.</p><p> </p><p>Max is nervous, she’d never been to a dance, or on a date and she’s sort of hating that she’s nervous in the first place especially when she gets back home, El’s managed to float candles and flowers, of course the minute she moves they fall, smashing into the ground and El sways a little but still smiles when Max rushes over.</p><p>“I wanted it to be pretty for you, like you.” Max can’t help but blush as they return to the makeshift table and dinner that El had set up.</p><p>Max leans forward kissing her on the cheek.</p><p>“Well it’s certainly beautiful like you.”</p><p>Max laughs a little when she feels herself hovering a few centimeters off the ground.</p>
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